River of blue cut through the valleySwept past the willows and the sandy barRan so swift, locked in my mem'ryBut the way things were is not the way things areWe used to swim in the crook of its armIn the summer heat who could be blamedAvoided the rapids as best as we couldNever thought that that stream could be tamedLong ago I gave up that riverside valleyTraded coulees for towers of steelAbandoned the vistas and valleys of childhoodFor the things that they told me were realNo more would I run with the speed of a coltCross the gravel down by water sideTo race with the twig I threw in at the bendCouldn't beat it though god knows I triedNow the river's not running as fast as it didThere's a dam there restricting the flowAnd I don't run either as fast as I couldGuess that river and I have grown oldNow it's strange in returning to places of youthIt seems your memory has made a mistakeCause the place that once scared you with white water runningHas been turned by decree to a lakeMakes me think about how too I smoothed out the wrinklesMade the waters as calm as you pleaseMakes me think about how that river and IWere both happier when we ran freeNow the river's not running as fast as it didThere's a dam there restricting the flowAnd I don't run either as fast as I couldGuess that river and I have grown oldGuess that river and I have grown old